Ere I descended to the gulph of hell,

133

The Good Supreme, from whom proceeds that joy Which swathes me round, was called by mortals El : Eli the name that afterwards men chose,—

Since custom, altering the words they employ,

Is like the leaf-one comes, another goes. In that blest mount which hath an eminence

Highest above the sea-while without stain

I lived a life of spotless innocence, The fourth part of a day did I remain.

139

NOTES.

Page 244. (Line 1.) Dazzled with the contemplation of St. John, at the end of the last canto, the poet is in doubt whether he shall ever recover his sight, and see Beatrice again. (12.) The Apostle tells him that the look of Beatrice has the same power as the hand of Ananias.

Page 245. (Line 17.) i.e. The Alpha and the Omega. (22.) The voice that speaks is that of St. John. (25.) The poet replies that he was first led to the love of God by Natural Philosophy, and secondly by Revelation. He places the study of Nature before that of Revelation, in point of time.

Page 246. (Line 38.) Plato is here intended. (42.) From Exodus, xxxiii. 19. “I will make all my goodness pass before thee." (44.) The first chapter of St. John is referred to.

(52.) "St. John is represented under the figure of an Eagle, as surpassing all others in describing the Divinity.

Page 247. (Line 64.) The plants are men, "those that are of the household of faith.-Galatians vi. 10. (77.) Dante's sight is restored, as St. John said it would be, line 10, by a look from Beatrice.

Page 248. (Line 93.) Daughter of Adam, as the common father; and daughter in law, as married to one of his sons.

Page 249. (Line 115.) "The sin of Adam consisted not in his eating a particular fruit, but in disobeying God.”—Dr. E. Burton. Works, vol. i. 346. (118.) In Limbo. See Inf. ii. 52. From 5232 (the years from the creation to the death of our Saviour) deduct 930, the number Adam lived, line 123, and -there remains 4302, the period Adam says he was in Limbo before our Saviour rescued him. (127.) See similar passages in note to xvi.79.

Page 250. (Line 133.) i.e. To Limbo. See Inf. iv. 55, and note. (138.) Thus Horace. De Arte Poet.

"Ut sylvæ foliis pronos mutantur in annos,

Prima cadunt: ita verborum vetus interit ætas." (139.) The mountain is that of Purgatory, upon which was situated the terrestial Paradise-and where an obscure tradition supposes our first Parents to have remained only a few hours.

CANTO XXVII.

ARGUMENT.

ST. PETER severely animadverts upon the avarice of his successors; and the Angels sympathise in his indignation. Dante is borne up to the ninth heaven.

"GLORY to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!"

Now throughout Paradise was heard to sound;
So that

my soul in ecstacy was lost.

All that I saw appear'd to me one smile
Caught from the universal world around,—
My eyes and ears inebriate the while.

O bliss ineffable! O rapture pure!

O life of love and peace! O wealth, that knows
No wish beyond, unsullied and secure!

Stood the four torches burning in my sight;
When lo, the one that first before me rose
Began to clothe itself in stronger light;

1

And manifested shortly such aspect

As Jupiter would bear, were Mars and he

Birds, and an interchange of plumes to effect. That Foresight, which to all who here abide

Assigns their proper lot and ministry,

Had silenced the blest band on every side,
When I these accents heard: "If changed in hue
My countenance should be, feel no surprise;
E'en while I speak will all the choir you view
Their colour change. He who on earth, my place,
My place usurps,-my place, which in the eyes
Of God's own Son is vacant, hath long space
Render'd my burial ground a sink abhorr'd

Of blood and filth, which to the inverate foe
Who fell from heaven, doth high delight afford."
Dyes of the self-same tint which eve and morn
The clouds assume, from Phoebus' ardent glow,
Beheld I then the expanse of heaven adorn.
And like a modest damsel, who not fearing

For her own self, yet wears a timid mien,

The story of another's shame but hearing;
Such change the look of Beatrice display'd;
And such eclipse the heaven endured, I ween,
As when the Godhead was an offering made.

13

19

25

31

Words then proceeded from his lips, in tone

So greatly changed from what they were before, Not greater was the change his face had shown. "The spouse of Christ was nourish'd not of old On mine, on Linus', and on Cletus' gore,

To teach the practice of amassing gold: But to attain this life of happiness

Calixtus, Pius, Sextus, holy band,

With Urban suffer'd, after long distress.

We never meant that Christians should be placed,
By our successors, part on the right hand,
The other part upon the left, disgraced:

Or that the keys entrusted to my care

Should be a sign for warriors to unfold,
And, as a standard, against Christians bear:
Or, that my figure on a seal should show,
Attached to lying privileges sold;

Whence oft suffused with ruddy shame I glow.
Rapacious wolves, in shepherd's clothing dress'd,
Are seen from high throughout the pastures fair:

O arm of God, why art thou still at rest? Our blood do Gascons now prepare to drink, And Cahors' greedy son.-O promise rare, To what a vile conclusion dost thou sink!